Saturday, March 31, 2007

Golfing Accidents

After my return to Bangkok we were talking about my golfing accident. See my 'Fitness thoughts' regarding this accident. I still shudder thinking about how serious it could have been. At that time my caddy had told me that the Golf Club had an insurance cover. I did try to, but did not manage to collect! One reason was that the driver never came back with the receipt for the repairs made!

But it is surprising that the club did not think of raising the height of the fence instead. I suppose the premiums were cheaper than the cost of a fence. On my recent visit to the club, I saw that the fence height had gone up considerably. The club was forced to raise it as one of the balls had hit the Chief Minister's car parked across the road! I wish that the Minster's car were hit earlier to my accident. Surely then, the fence would have been up and I would have been saved the tension and the cost of repairs.

I recall that a golf club in Chennai has a busy lane passing thru the fairway. While it is fenced, it was still unnerving to hit a ball with people crossing unconcerned on foot, bicycles and scooters. I am sure most of them are so used to it that they do not even realize they are in the path of a hard ball moving at a speed!

Naturally, our talk turned towards other accidents in a golf course. I remember I ducked in time from a fast approaching ball thanks to the caddie in Bangkok. Couple of years ago they say a caddie died in Bangalore after being hit by a ball. The club then started providing helmets to the caddies. As it is a narrow crisscrossing kind of golf course, it would make sense to provide it to players as well. In any case most of the caddies did not wear the helmet!

Being hit or hitting some one is not always serious. I have seen this happen in a major tournament! Tiger Wood's drive strayed and the ball hit a spectator and fell back on the fairway. Probably saved a stroke or two for Tiger! It is one of those benign incidents and Tiger’s caddy, known for his truculence, might have even thanked the chap for a change.

But unfortunately there are many instances of lightening striking golfers, often fatally at the golf course. Our golfing partner Bobby was very fortunate to come out more or less unhurt by a lightening strike. He said it went thru his umbrella held invitingly up and thru the putter that he had luckily grounded.

Most golf courses at Bangkok have warning systems for lightening. Surprisingly I have yet to see anyone stop playing in spite of the sirens going off. The caddies, mostly girls, keep walking and so do we! We trust them as usual, whether it is the ever important putting line or our life itself!